Enhanced Naruto
by answer777
Summary: Naruto is being chased around the streets of Konoha one day and stumbles upon an old clan house. How will this change Naruto's life? Read to find out! Pairings will be revealed later on in the story. This is not godlike Naruto, only enhanced
1. Chapter 1: A New beginning

**My first fanfic…meh**

* * *

"Come back you red fur ball. I didn't finishing skinning you."

"Why are you running now? Let's see you fierce teeth now."

"Hahaha."

Naruto, age four, was running down the alleyway. He was ambushed again out in the streets. This time, however, was a lot more severe than the previous beatings – this one had knives. Suffering several slashes on his right arm, Naruto ran away as fast as his legs allowed him. Even though he was only four, his stamina proved to be an incredible asset to the young boy.

Naruto had caught his pursuers by surprise as he resisted when he had been caught. Because of this, Naruto had somewhat of a head start. Naruto ran and stopped in a "T" section of a road. He looked to his left and right. There were men drunk on their sake but still made a determined face to hurt the young boy as much as they could. Footsteps behind Naruto were getting louder by the second. Naruto looked in front of him as the last resource. It was an abandoned clan house. In the front laid a sealed door. Naruto who had little choice decided to tackle the door not knowing what seals were capable. Naruto's arm burned in agony as it absorbed impact from the hit. Not knowing what to do next, he pounded his arm onto the door, hoping that there was some poor stranger on the other side ready to help him.

Footsteps were getting closer and Naruto's luck was running dry. Taking one look at the seal placed on the door, Naruto attempted to rip off the tag. The tag, unfortunately, was refused to budge as Naruto accidently smeared blood onto it.

A flash of blinding light suddenly filled the air. Naruto saw the door crack open a tiny bit before quickly stepping into the clan house as the door behind him closed. The blood that was once on the tag had been absorbed and resealed.

The thugs outside banged against the door, swearing as loud as they could. But even with the combined strength of several dozen civilians was not enough to break down the small seal.

Naruto took several moments to take a deep breath and to observe his surroundings. The place has been abandoned for years.

"No one would know I'm here. And if they catch me, I'll just think of an excuse. Besides, I can't do anything worse to make the villagers hate me more," thought Naruto.

So Naruto decided to explore the complex around the clan estate. There was a dried up swimming pool, a dozen bedrooms at least, and a library filled with scrolls. But best of all, there was at least a few years' worth of supplies of instant ramen. Grinning at his newly found treasure grove, Naruto decided to make frequent visits for a while until the ramen runs out.

During the next few months, Naruto had developed a regular routine. From Monday to Saturday, he would get up and cook his three-minute ramen at his apartment. Being the village prankster, escaping the notice of many higher ranking ninja did not prove to be a hassle. On the contrary, no one really paid close attention to Naruto. So Naruto was able to sneak into what he called his "secret base". It was the mansion – the unknown clan estate – that Naruto had first found during his bloody encounter with the thugs.

At first, Naruto was not able to open the gates. It made him mad, frustrated, and above all curious.

What had allowed Naruto open the door in the first place? It wasn't until two days later after endless knocking that drew blood from his hands and allowed him inside again.

Inside the mansion, there was no one to disturb his peace. And because no one had come to kick Naruto out, he saw fit to continue to arrive at the clan house daily.

But Naruto was still the jinchuuriki of the nine tailed fox. Therefore, the Hokage made frequent visits to Naruto's apartment every Sunday – when his paperwork wasn't too overwhelming.

Naruto didn't spend his time doing nothing in the mansion however. In fact, Naruto felt lonely – lonely enough to go into the enormous library and started to read.

And that's when Naruto decided he wanted to become a ninja. The book Naruto picked up was the "The guide to being a ninja". It was an old book with dust almost an inch thick. Naruto, being an active person, never got past the first page. And so, the only thing Naruto kept in his head from the book was, "Rule one: a ninja's greatest weapon is the art of deception". That rule was going to be implanted into Naruto's head for this entire life.

Naruto also read other books which taught him chakra manipulation. These ones were more appealing to Naruto as he found more success to get to the end of the book than the first book he read. To find a remedy for Naruto's loneliness, he learned the shadow clone jutsu from an ancient scroll. Making several clones, Naruto enjoyed playing tag and sparring with 'himself'.

There were always exceptions to when Naruto would visit his secret hiding place. It was usually when Naruto was extremely bored and wanted to test his skills on certain 'test subjects'.

And so, there would be at least one victim every month who found themselves stuck on a toilet seat.

Naruto, age five, awoke one morning to find the residents of Konoha weeping. The Uchiha Clan had been massacred and only three members of the clan survived. The attacker however was yet to be found.

Walking across the streets, he found more hateful glares directed at him as if the whole event that happened the previous night was his fault.

Turning around the corner, Naruto continued walking down the alleyway when he found himself surrounded by a group of civilians each holding either a bat or metal rod.

A year ago, Naruto would have run. A year ago, Naruto would have cowered. A year ago, Naruto would have just cried his way out. But that was a year ago and the Naruto that day was one born anew.

Naruto knew he had the power to beat these guys. He knew he could probably cause some internal damage as well. But he also knew if he were to fight, he would not leave the scene unscathed. So he used a shadow clone that appeared on the roof of one the buildings and used a Kawarimi with his clone.

The thugs, who still thought the same Naruto was there, began taunting him. They mocked Naruto for ten minutes until one of them threw a stone at 'Naruto'. 'Naruto' instinctively dodged the attack. And then, hell broke loose from the bandits as they rushed in to attack 'Naruto' from all angles. A lot of confusion then took place. The thugs did not understand where the smoke had come from and pondered if Naruto was smart enough to throw a smoke bomb in the mist of all the action. Then again, they could not find Naruto.

Unable to locate Naruto, the thugs left with their heads held high, refusing to believe a five year old kid had outwitted them.

Meanwhile, Naruto was inside the mansion which he learned from a book it had belonged to a clan known as the "Namikaze". They had died off during the Third Shinobi War. The name was not really significant to Naruto so he continued his self-studies.

Naruto learned Shunshin no Jutsu, Kawarimi no Jutsu, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, Henge no Jutsu. Naruto, however, was not able to make a regular Bunshin no matter how hard he practiced. So he just gave in to the Kage Bunshin since it was many more times effective.

Using these four jutsus, Naruto was able to accomplish prank after prank hidden and unnoticed. Those who despised and overcharged Naruto at stores were the usual victims as Naruto felt little pity for them.

* * *

**And that's the end of Ch.1**

**Don't know if I should continue though. Not the best grammar in the world, but I hope it's sufficient. **


	2. Chapter 2: Naruto age 6

**Well, attempt two I suppose. **

* * *

Naruto, now age six, was roaming down the streets of Konoha early in the morning. It was a rare day for him to walk in the park. He had read a book that all successful ninjas meditate, so Naruto decided to try for himself. Finding himself a clearing, he sat down crossed legged and closed his eyes. He managed five minutes before his inner conscience told him it was too cruel to waste his day like this.

It was still quite early, so Naruto leaped onto a park bench and starred up at the clouds. It was interesting at first, but eventually, Naruto got weary from starring up for so long.

So Naruto decided it was time to head to his favourite place. Along the way, he came to a training ground where a kid around his age – give or take a year – was being trained. Naruto watched in fascination. The kid, a male, was practicing his taijutsu stances against a wooden pole with his sensai even though Naruto figured it was probably that kid's father.

It was strange to Naruto. He never saw a stance like that. Then again, he didn't have much experience for himself. But what triggered Naruto's attention were the eyes of the young kid. The eyes were white; the pupil, dissolved into its surroundings as if it never existed.

Naruto thought it would be weird if he were to stare at someone – even at a distance – for an extended period. So Naruto left the area and continued wandering down the streets.

By now, the sun shone brightly in the sky. It was noon and Naruto was hungry. So Naruto took a left turn and arrived at Ichiraku Ramen.

"Hello, what do you want to eat?" asked a young waitress.

"Umm…let's see. I want to eat one of everything!" stated Naruto.

The young waitress looked at Naruto with an eyebrow raised and replied, "Let's cut it down a bit and order something perhaps a bit more suitable for your age."

But Naruto was determined, "Okay, I'll start with a beef ramen for now and order more as I go. How's that sound?"

The waitress simply nodded and wrote down Naruto's order.

A long five minutes of waiting before a bowl from heaven descended in front of Naruto. After several mouthfuls, Naruto truly believed it was kami who made the ramen.

"This is so good! I need another bowl," cried Naruto.

"Alright, if you say so," replied the young waitress.

"Hey, excuse me, but I haven't got your name yet," said Naruto with a cheerful smile.

"You can call me Ayame and my father behind the counter is Teuchi," replied Ayame.

Naruto's second bowl arrived in five minutes and was devoured within another three.

"More please," cried Naruto.

"Who is this? A rare customer I see," said Teuchi with a smile on his face.

"Your ramen is so good. Can I have another one?" asked Naruto.

"It's rare to see young fellows like you eating so much ramen. Young kids usually should eat more vegetables. Do you want to try our new vegetable ramen? It's quite good according to several other customers who were brave enough to try it," stated Teuchi.

"Sure, no problem. I'll give it a try," said Naruto.

In the end, when Naruto was finally full, he had consumed a total of five bowls, an achievement few could accomplish at his age.

The bill came and Naruto pulled out some notes from his pocket. He had found these in the old clan house in a drawer. In a way, it was stealing, but Naruto had promised himself that he will return it one day when he becomes all rich from high level missions as a shinobi of Konoha.

Back at the abandoned clan house, Naruto pulled out the scroll he was working on. Naruto, however, could not understand half of it. He can only make sense a small portion of the jutsu.

'Stupid rasengan. Whoever made this jutsu must have been pretty stubborn if that person put the instructions into a scroll that no one understands,' thought Naruto.

So Naruto shoved the scroll into a corner and decided to attain more information about a completely diluted eye. It turns out that the young kid he saw at the training ground was a member of the Hyuuga, a clan renowned for their services to Konoha and their bloodline.

And then Naruto realized it was a Sunday.

'Oh shit,' thought Naruto.

The sandaime was visiting Naruto this afternoon and he would arrive at Naruto's house in a couple minutes. There was no possible way whereby Naruto could make it back to his apartment in time even with the shunshin.

Naruto did a shunshin to a hidden spot near his apartment and ran as fast as he could. Upon reaching the door to his apartment, he found the sandaime had already made himself comfortable on his couch.

"Hello Naruto-kun, where have you been my dear?" asked Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"I was just wandering here and about," answered Naruto with a smile.

Saruboti frowned. Earlier that day, he had attempted to spy on Naruto with his all-seeing crystal ball. Unfortunately, the "all-seeing" might have lost its title as Naruto was not to be found. There could only be two possibilities for this to occur: either there were seals that forbade one to be spied upon or the target was outside the walls Konoha. Seeing the first option is very unlikely, it had made Sarutobi more worried.

"Now, now Naruto. Let's be truthful to each other so I will ask the question again: Where have you been this morning?" Sarutobi asked again only this time, he had put more authority in the language.

Naruto, being Konoha's prankster, had put on his most innocent and cute face possible and said, "I was lost on the road of life."

Sarutobi sweat-dropped after hearing those all too familiar words.

"You got something better than that?" asked Sarutobi.

Naruto put on a cheesy smile and scratched his head while replying, "Well, I spent three hours thinking of that one. I supposed I could disappear for another three and give you another one."

Upon hearing this line, Sarutobi face-palmed and cried, "No Naruto. Please don't."

'I don't need one more person who might join the ranks of the shinobi to make these lame excuses,' thought Sarutobi.

"So just tell me Naruto. Where have you been this morning?" asked Sarutobi again who was determine to squeeze the information out of Naruto.

Naruto, on the other hand, was determined to keep his secret hideout safe. Who knows what would happen if the old man found out he was visiting the place almost every day.

"I was playing ninja. But there was no one to play with me, so I just went to the park to throw stones at a log," replied Naruto.

Hearing another one of Naruto's more sincere answer, Sarutobi just sighed in his mind. If Naruto was in the park, then his all-seeing crystal ball would evidently show that he was.

Naruto, sensing the tense atmosphere, decided to change the topic and spoke of something more pleasant. "Hey jiji, can I be a ninja now?"

"Naruto, you are still too young to enter the academy. Besides, it'll be too dangerous," replied Sarutobi.

"But I went to the outskirts of the academy a few days ago and there were kids my age already training there," whined Naruto.

"Those kids are from the renowned clans of Konoha, giving them special permission to enter before the age requirement. Those kids have trained at a very young age from their parents," replied Sarutobi.

"Then why don't you train me!" exclaimed Naruto.

"Naruto, I'm the Hokage of this village and as the Hokage I have many responsibilities. If I train you myself, then I would be swarmed with hundreds of other kids asking to be trained by me," replied the third Hokage.

Naruto did not like being turned aside and decided to put on his six-year old sad face as if he was about to cry.

Hiruzen, seeing little Naruto about to burst into tears, wanted to appease him and said, "Naruto, if you really want to be trained to be a ninja, I can get a tutor for you."

Naruto was horrified on the inside. He never expected the old man to actually get a tutor for him. All he expected was the old man refusing his request as he acted as a normal six-year old. Never had he thought he would have such an effect on the third Hokage. He did not want to spend his time with some unknown person who might just waste his entire time teaching things he already knew. Naruto would rather go to his hiding place and practice some of the jutsus in the scrolls.

But Naruto did not want to disappoint Sarutobi with a disappointed face, so he put on his happy mask and said, "Thanks jiji! When do I start?" asked Naruto.

Sarutobi thought for a moment before answering Naruto. "Go to training ground 23 at nine in the morning tomorrow. Here's a map if you don't know where it is."

Naruto took the map and studied it for a moment. He nodded and said thanks to the third Hokage as Sarutobi took his leave.

'Now where am I going to find Naruto a tutor?' thought Hiruzen as he exited through the door.

* * *

The sun rose up next morning and pierced through Naruto's sleepy eyes. Groaning as he got up, Naruto prepared his three-minute ramen while brushing his teeth at the same time.

He was still asleep when he took out his chopsticks. It was not until the magic ramen entered Naruto's mouth that his eyes popped open and was fully awake.

Naruto glanced down at his watch. It read: 9:30.

'Crap, I'm late again,' thought Naruto, 'My punctuality is dwindling. I better not do this again.'

Naruto did a shunshin to get as close as he dared to training ground 23. Upon his arrival, he saw a jonin leaning against a tree.

The jonin scowled as he saw Naruto moving towards him.

"You're the kid *cough* I'm supposed to teach I suppose," said the jonin.

"I guess so. The Hokage sent me here after all," replied Naruto.

"My name's *cough* Hayate and I suppose you're Naruto," stated Hayate.

"Yep!" said Naruto.

"Alright, let me tell you the *cough* truth, I'm not too keen in teaching *cough* kids this young, but since the Hokage *cough* sincerely asked me to and gave me a *cough* good pay, I'm not one to decline."

'It's not like I want to be here too,' thought Naruto.

But Naruto put on his "happy mask" on with a smile. "So what am I going to learn first?"

"Normally, I would *cough* test out my students first, but since we're starting at zero, I don't think that step would be necessary. So what would you like to *cough* learn about?" asked Hayate.

"I'm not sure. But can I try your katana on your back?" asked Naruto.

"A katana is pretty *cough* dangerous for a six-year old," answered Hayate.

"Please, please, oh please can I at least swing it?" pleaded Naruto.

"No Naruto, let's *cough* start something a bit more basic."

"Please. Come on. Just one swing."

'What a persistent kid,' thought Hayate. 'I guess that's how he got the Hokage to get me teach this guy.'

"Tell you what Naruto, I'll give you a test and if you can pass it, I'll take to a weapon store and get you a practice blade."

"Oh thank you Hayate-san," cried Naruto.

"It's Hayate-_sensei_," corrected Hayate. "Besides, you haven't even passed your test yet."

"Okay. Then tell me what it is so I can pass it."

Hayate thought for a moment before answering Naruto, "I want you to go find *cough* four cookies in a cookie jar and a *cough* bottle of hot tea."

Naruto sweat-dropped. 'He means he wants me to get his breakfast.'

"Oh by the way, you have 20 minutes to complete the task. Fail to complete it then we'll start with basic training instead of the sword."

"Yes"

"It's yes *cough* _sensei_"

"Yes sensei."

* * *

Naruto could not believe it. Was his sensei a joke? Nevertheless, when Naruto was out of his sensei's sight, he produced a shunshin to the market.

Naruto entered a store and bought four cookies and a cup of hot tea before leaving to an alleyway and produced another shunshin back to the outskirts of training ground 23.

"Here you go," said Naruto with a smile.

"Whoa. Now that's some stamina you got there. You got there and back in ten minutes," said Hayate.

As Hayate reached for the cookies and tea, Naruto stepped back refusing to give it to Hayate.

"Money first," cried Naruto.

"How much," asked Hayate.

"Here's the bill. Take a look at it yourself," answered Naruto

Hayate took the bill and his eyes almost fell out of its sockets.

"THAT'S INSANE. Tea and cookies does NOT cost THIS much," shouted Hayate.

"It doesn't? I always get charged this much," said Naruto innocently.

"Naruto, you pass, let's get you a training sword. But first, we're taking a detour to that store you just went to," said Hayate with a hint of anger.

The two of them walked towards Konoha's market. Once they reached the tea shop, Hayate slammed the bill on the counter in front of the shopkeeper.

"Explain yourself. My girlfriend comes here every day and she gets charged three times less," said Hayate angrily.

"Uh...," the shopkeeper was lost in words. 'Oh crap.'

"Return the extra money, but next time, my student here gets overcharged again, I'll come and make sure he is _never_ overcharged again," Hayate stated strongly.

"Y...Yes. Of course. It won't happen again. H..here's the m...money," the shopkeeper stammered.

Hayate took the money and gave it to Naruto along with the money he owed him earlier.

The two then headed off towards the weapon store.

Naruto was stood in front of Konoha's famous weapon store. He was frozen until Hayate gave the kid a little push from behind, signaling him to go inside.

Once inside, they moved about until the 'katana section' was in sight.

Naruto walked over and attempted to wield one of the sharper blades, but was stopped when Hayate stopped him.

"Here *cough* is a good training sword," said Hayate.

Naruto frowned. The sword Hayate had picked for him was a wooden one with dull edges. Naruto began to fret about the sword until Hayate gave him one of the "listen to me or else..." looks.

Naruto sighed. It seems that he had no choice but to stick with a wooden sword until he proves Hayate otherwise.

"Alrighty, Hayati-sensei."

"It's _Hayate_."

The two left the store and stood outside in the heat of the sun.

"Ok Naruto, I'm a *cough* busy guy, so meet me at the same time and place next week. Do _not_ be *cough* late."

"Yes sensei. Good-bye"

Naruto looked at the sky and decided there was enough time to head back to his special place to take a look.

As Naruto got close to the door, he looked around and saw no one in particular, so he drew blood from his hands and opened the door. Once inside, he searched for the armoury.

It took a while, but eventually it was found. Naruto's eyes bulged as he saw the amount katanas around the place.

'Crap. I should have just saved my money instead of buying all those wooden swords. Look at the amount of swords and katanas around here. I've made a fool out of myself by whining so much."

But Naruto was truly excited about learning how to wield a katana.

* * *

**I think I'll end Ch.2 here. There would be a time skip for either a couple months or a year.**


	3. Chapter 3: Naruto age 7

**Trial number three. Here goes nothing...**

* * *

Naruto, age seven, was lying on his back, exhausted from his weekly katana training with Hayate.

"You're improving Naruto, but your left knee needs to bend more when you do a *cough* horizontal slash," said Hayate who was now packing up. "We'll call it a day. I got to go catch something important."

"Okay sensei," Naruto said as he got up and began walking down the streets of Konoha.

As usual, hateful glares pursued Naruto like a magnet. This had Naruto wondering what he had done to be treated this way. Sure he played pranks here and there, but nothing ever too severe – except for one person who got stuck in a tree, hanging face-first towards the ground for the whole night.

Then again, the beatings, the bullying, the overcharging all took place before he began his mayhem around the village.

Things had turned at pretty decent ever since he got Hayate as his tutor. Naruto now saw the advantages of having a high ranking shinobi teaching him. It was like having a bodyguard whenever both Naruto and Hayate roamed the streets of Konoha together.

No one who had heard the story would go up to Naruto again. Two civilians learned it the hard way.

Naruto remembered the incident all too well.

(Flashback)

Around six months after Hayate began tutoring Naruto kenjutsu, they decided to celebrate as Naruto was finally able to last three-minutes of Hayate's easy-sparring exercises.

On the way to Ichiraku Ramen, two drunken men began to taunt Naruto.

"Hey foxy, get out of our town or I'll skin you and give your bones to my dogs," said one of the drunk men who stumbled while speaking.

"Your dogs won't like that type of bone. They would rather spit it out," cried the other drunk.

Normally, Naruto would run away, not giving a care for the world those two lived in. This time however, he had a jonin with him, a jonin where Naruto knew he could trust. So Naruto looked down and put on his "sad mask".

Hayate, seeing Naruto was emotionally abused and hurt, marched up to the two drunks. "Hey, who do you think *cough* you're talking about? Do you know *cough* who I am?"

"Another joke that hangs out with the foxy brat and only knows how to cough," said the first drunk who evidently could not see the forehead protector that Hayate wore.

And so, Hayate, who was picking up Naruto's sense of humour, knocked out the two drunks.

When the two supposedly drunk men awoke from the incident, they found their legs bounded together with a rope. An arm from each person was also stuck in between the two bodies while the other arm was tied behind their backs. Worst of all, the two drunks still had massive headaches.

No one wanted to approach the two for a note on the back was written, 'help these two fools and you might find yourself listed at the top of my soon-to-be-victims section in my book. Signed, Konoha's renowned prankster.' It did not take a genius to figure who was behind it all.

The results of the two men were, for the most part, hilarious for Naruto. Even Hayate gave in to a laugh before coughing twice as much.

(Flashback end)

Naruto headed towards his apartment. Ever since the incident where the Hokage had visited him, asking for his whereabouts, Naruto had gone to his hiding place less and less frequent. When he does go, he would make a shadow clone in his apartment before doing a shunshin on the way out.

Even though Naruto had an extraordinary amount of chakra for his age, he still had his limits. Half his chakra went to the clone which would only last for a few hours. The rest of Naruto's chakra was used to shunshin there and back. By the time those factors had been accounted for, Naruto did not have much Chakra left.

So Naruto resolved to visiting the abandoned clan house once a week and carried away whatever he wanted to study before returning it. In a sense, the hiding place had become Naruto's personal library.

Naruto was able to carry as much as he wanted because he had previously read a book called, "The beginner's guide to Fuuinjutsu." It was a very complex book even for a beginner and Naruto never got past the second seal. Fortunately, the first seal Naruto was able to learn is the storage seal.

From then on, Naruto had a fun time playing with storage seals – sometimes even storing storage seals that contained objects into another storage seal. This, however, proved to be an unexpected problem as several cups of instant ramen took hours to find as Naruto had the opportunity to unseal dozens of scrolls to locate them.

* * *

One morning, Naruto wanted to practice his katana in an open training ground. But the training sword did not appeal to Naruto. Instead, he sought for a real katana in his storage scrolls he had brought over from the armoury in the abandoned clan house.

The only training ground Naruto was familiar with was training ground 23. So a shunshin was produced to get as close as Naruto dared in case someone had seen him.

Taking the real Katana, Naruto did a few swings. Naruto knew he picked a good katana by the way it flowed through the air. But something about the katana just did not feel right, but words could not express his anonymous sensation.

Meanwhile at the Hokage tower, Hiruzen Sarutobi took out his crystal ball to spy on the village. There were several candidates he wanted to look upon. But in the end, Sarutobi finalized his decision.

Sarutobi thought of Naruto and performed the required hand signs. He found Naruto in a training ground practicing his katana.

'He's working pretty hard,' thought Hiruzen as he peered gleefully into the glass ball.

It was not the first time Hiruzen had spied on Naruto during his training. At first, it was entertaining to watch the young kid blossom into a ninja full of potential. He would watch Naruto train with Hayate during their scheduled spars.

As the old man starred deeper into the ball, he saw something that horrified him. Naruto was not using his regular training katana. Instead, he saw Naruto wield a dangerously sharp one.

'What in the world is Hayate thinking to allow Naruto handle such a risky weapon at such a young age!' thought Hiruzen as his eyes were nearly glued to his crystal ball. 'If this continues, my little Naruto may cut of a few limbs by accident. No I cannot allow this to happen any longer. I knew it was a mistake to permit Naruto to learn the ninja arts at such an early age. Worst of all, I gave him a sword specialist as his tutor! No, no, no. I must stop this here and now before it's too late.'

* * *

A week had gone by and Naruto awoke in the morning to brush his teeth while heating the water to boil his ramen.

After what was supposedly three minutes but felt approximately thirty, Naruto produced another shunshin to the outskirts of training ground 23.

Hayate, being a very punctual sensei, had already arrived.

"Good *cough* morning Naruto. For a warm-up, I want you to buy *cough* me a bouquet of flowers."

Naruto looked at his sensei at a weird angle. 'He isn't serious is he? Agg…it happens every week. Last week was three cartons of eggs only to find out that I had to dodge them while practicing my stances.'

"This time, you pay me beforehand and I can give you the change," stated Naruto.

'This kid is getting smarter each time I see him,' thought Hayate. 'I suppose it's only because of my influence.'

"Alright, here's the *cough* money," said Hayate as he handed the cash over to Naruto. "Don't cheat me. I want to *cough* see the receipt."

"No worries."

Naruto sprinted across the training field towards the flower shop.

Naruto reached the flower shop with a shunshin. As usual, Naruto was nervous to go into shops as the reactions of shopkeepers tend to be quite different.

Naruto opened the door and saw a young girl with long blonde hair sitting behind the counter. She was around the same age as Naruto give or take a year.

"Hi there. How may I help you?" asked the young girl. 'He's kind of cute.'

"Umm…can I buy a bouquet of flowers?" asked Naruto who was now clenching his fists since his interactions with peers at the same age was close to zero.

"What kind of flowers are you looking for?" asked the young girl. 'Wow, he's so mature. He's already buying flowers for someone special.'

At hearing this question, Naruto did not know how to answer. He did not even know what type of flowers there were.

"I'm not sure what type of flowers there is," answered Naruto who now dug his hands into his pockets.

"Well, different flowers symbolized different things. So what do you need the flowers for," asked the young girl who was playing with her long, smooth hair. 'He's pretty modest too.'

"I suppose friendship," answered Naruto.

"Alright then, I suggest yellow roses would do the job," the young girl said. 'I wonder if he has a girlfriend.'

"Wow, thanks. For a moment there, I thought my tutor would kill me if I bought him the wrong flowers," stated Naruto.

"Never mind about the nice things I thought about you," blurted out the young girl as she quickly covered her mouth, knowing she accidently said the wrong thing.

"What…?" Naruto said confusingly.

"I mean here you go. A bouquet of yellow roses coming right up. Just leave your money on the counter by the side please," instructed the young girl.

Naruto paid the girl and walked toward the exit with a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

"WAIT!" cried the young girl. "My name is Ino, but I still haven't got your name yet."

Naruto turned just as he got to the door. "Oh, my name is Naruto. Nice to meet you. I got to run now."

With those last words, Naruto departed.

(20 minutes ago)

* * *

"Alright, here's the money," said Hayate as he handed the cash over to Naruto. "Don't cheat me. I want to see the receipt."

"No worries."

Hayate watched Naruto sprint across the training field towards the flower shop.

When Naruto disappeared into the distance, he laid down on the grass watching the clouds flow by. 'If only life could go on like this: helping young kids as ninja and getting paid this well.'

Hayate's moment of peace was soon broken by an intruder. An ANBU landed by Hayate.

"Hayate, you are to report to the Hokage's office immediately," the ANBU said.

Before Hayate could reply, the ANBU disappeared with a shunshin.

'Strange, the Hokage scheduled all my Monday mornings with Naruto,' thought Hayate.

Hayate arrived at the Hokage tower. Knocking on the door of the Hokage's Office, he entered the room.

Inside the room was Hiruzen Sarutobi sitting on the ancient chair, stroking his white beard.

"Hayate, do you know why I called you here today?" asked Sarutobi.

"No *cough* hokage-sama," replied Hayate with a hint of worry. 'Crap, it better not be because I told Naruto to do my morning chores.'

"It's nothing related to Naruto if that's what you're thinking," said the third Hokage with a little emphasis.

'Phew,' thought Hayate and he relaxed, putting his hands into his pockets.

"Our spies have gathered information about a new village popping up in the Land of Sound. Rumours have told us its name is Otogakaru," Hiruzen

"So you want me to *cough* investigate the village?" asked Hayate.

"No, what I just told you is irrelevant. I have already dispatched a squad of ANBU," declared Hiruzen while still smoking on his pipe.

"So what is it that made you *cough* summon me into your presence?" asked Hayate.

"Our relationship with Kiri is on the wane as with the other major villages. I want you to be Konoha's temporary ambassador and revisit all the villages on this list," said Sarutobi as he handed Hayate an enclosed envelope. "You will also be accompanied by three other jonin. Do you accept this mission?"

"Yes, but what about *cough* Naruto?" asked Hayate.

"Naruto is almost within the age requirements to enter the academy. Once he does, he will be busy and the teachers at the academy can help him with the questions he asks."

"Alright, I suppose. I'm going to *cough* miss that kid. He's one funny guy once you get past the inner demon," said Hayate with a sigh.

"Well, I hope Naruto won't go too crazy with the katana once you're not here. When I first got you as his tutor I didn't expect him to be learning the katana straight off the bat," said Sarutobi.

"Oh about that. Naruto was really *cough* persistent and it's hard to say no to a six-year old," chuckled Hayate.

"I just don't want our next generation to be swinging sharp swords around before they even enter the academy," stated Sarutobi after taking another puff from his pipe.

"The katana he's wielding at the moment isn't really that *cough* sharp," Hayate said innocently.

"Yes, I'm just concerned about Naruto's safety," said Sarutobi with a warm smile. 'Isn't THAT sharp? Hayate, I know you wield katana's that can cut trees like paper, but the one I saw Naruto holding was only perhaps slightly duller.'

"I have one more *cough* question before I leave," stated Hayate.

"Yes?"

"Do I receive rank-S pay, rank-A pay, or rank-B pay for this mission?"

'Young people and their ambition for money.' "I'll pay you a rank-A. Leave in two hours. Take as _long_ as you need for this mission."

"Hai *cough* Hokage-sama"

And so, Hayate shunshined towards training ground 23.

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto was sitting on a log in training ground 23 while waiting for his sensei to come back from whatever he disappeared to.

'This is stupid,' thought Naruto. 'He sends me off to do his shopping and leaves to do other things while I did all that?'

Just as Naruto was about to leave, a swirl of leaves materialized and Hayate appeared.

"SENSEI, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" shouted an angry Naruto.

"Naruto, I..."

"YOU LEFT ME HERE FOR ONE WHOLE HOUR BY MYSELF"

"Naruto, I..."

"AND I HAD TO START PEELING THE PETALS OFF THE FLOWERS TO SEE IF YOU WERE COMING BACK OR NOT"

"YOU DID WHAT?"

"AND THEN I HAD TO GO TO THE MARKET _AGAIN_ TO BUY MORE," shouted Naruto who was now taking a deep breath. "So you'll have to pay me back for these flowers."

"That's YOUR fault you started to peel off flowers. And what guy peels off flowers to see when their sensei is coming back?" retorted Hayate.

"So? Pay me or I'll tell Yūgao Uzuki that you've been getting a seven-year old kid to get her flowers because you don't know what type she likes," threatened Naruto.

Hayate's face went pale as he absorbed Naruto's last sentence.

"H...how did you know?" Hayate stammered.

"It's quite obvious," answered Naruto. "And why didn't you cough like you always do?"

"I cough *cough* because I want to," Hayate answered back while putting several notes onto Naruto's outstretched hand.

Naruto sweat-dropped. It seems he had been fooled for a year that Hayate was actually sick the whole time.

"Another thing," declared Hayate. "Hokage-sama has granted me a mission and I have accepted. I don't know how long I will be away and it breaks my heart to say this, but this is our last meeting."

Naruto looked up at his sensei. Over the course of the year, Naruto did not wish to have these weekly training sessions. But the longer he went, the greater he felt attached to Hayate for there were few that really cared for him and Hayate was one of them. Naruto took off his masks and was ready to burst into tears.

"It's okay Naruto. I won't be gone forever. I'll be back one day," said Hayate while patting Naruto on the head.

"Promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

And so, Naruto and Hayate departed training ground 23, their backs turned to each other and walked in opposite directions.

Just before Naruto shunshined away, he turned around and saw his sensei doing the same thing.

"Hayate-sensei, when you return, spar with me again and I promise I won't hold back," shouted the teary-eye Naruto.

Hayate gave Naruto a thumbs up before producing a shunshin.

Naruto did the same and left for his apartment.

* * *

Meanwhile at the Hokage tower, Hiruzen Sarutobi watched the whole scene unfold.

'Was it wrong for me to separate these two? Darn it. Let's hope it's not a mistake I will come to be regretting.'

* * *

Naruto was back at his apartment, still asleep in his dreamland, not wanting to awake into reality. But he vowed to train vigorously from now on.

Naruto opened the "Beginner's guide to Fuuinjutsu" and flipped to the second seal he learned: the gravity seal.

Naruto carefully drew the seals as instructed in the book onto his legs and arms. The arms he had a shadow clone to help him out. Naruto then used chakra to activate the seals. Next, he poured in a small amount of chakra into the seals to make his body feel heavier. But Naruto wasn't done. He drew another gravity seal; this time, however, he applied it to his katana.

* * *

It has been six months since Naruto last saw Hayate. Ever since, the pranks on the village seem to have deceased. The quiet, peaceful air was appreciated by all at first. But as time flowed by, a few who didn't hold a grudge on the young Naruto began to miss the pranks Naruto once did. However, most of the civilians were just glad their fox was gone.

Hiruzen sat in his office, starring out the window. 'Where are you Naruto?' He had attempted to locate Naruto through his crystal ball which resulted with little success.

Naruto had disappeared ever since Hiruzen sent Hayate off on his diplomatic mission. He wanted to recall Hayate from his mission but he had already spoken to the council beforehand. Changing his mind would make him look like a fool and the council may start urging him towards retirement. Not that Hiruzen did not wish to retire, he just could not find a suitable candidate that has potential to become his successor.

'I think I would rather see Naruto missing a few limbs from training with a sharp katana than to not see him at all,' thought Hiruzen who took another puff from his pipe while imagining how Naruto would then look like. 'On the second thought, maybe disappearing for a while and coming back whole is a better choice.'

Hiruzen had also sent his top ANBU to search for the boy outside Konoha as it was what Hiruzen first theorized where Naruto had disappeared to. Unfortunately, Naruto either covered his tracks perfectly or he did not leave Konoha.

He retrained from notifying the village council that their jinchuuriki was missing as he did not want anyone to panic. But the problem was Danzo.

'What if Danzo recruited Naruto to ROOT,' thought Hiruzen who now started to sweat. 'Crap. Then he'll use Naruto when he's older at the council to say he has fully tamed the jinchuuriki, giving him more power and a political advantage.'

"Agg...I'm stressing myself to much lately," cried Sarutobi out loud to no one in particular. "Sunday afternoon and paper is at a minimum level. A rare time indeed. I think I'll just take a stroll down the streets to ease myself."

With that being said, Hiruzen left the tower and headed towards whatever direction the wind took him to. Still having Naruto in his mind, Hiruzen made some odd turns. When he snapped out of his day-dreaming, he found himself in front of the abandoned Namikaze Clan Estate.

* * *

**For those who question how Hiruzen's crystal ball works, it functions like this. Hiruzen thinks of the person he wishes to see and the target will appear in the ball. If the target makes a shadow clone (a perfect copy of themselves), then the target will appear in the place he or she will most-likely to be in. The limits are to the crystal ball's range is the walls of Konoha and if the target is within a sealed area with seals giving the user privacy.**

**And finally, for those who are curious about the pairings, I'm not going to tell you to raise the suspense (also because I need to finalize who it is haha).**


	4. Chapter 4: Possibilities

**Alright, I had a choice to do my chemistry work, listen to the math professor talk all day, or write the fan-fic. I chose the one most appealing.**

**Thank you to HPNU92 who told me I had some grammar mistakes here and there. I fixed many of them. I apologize to those who read my first few chapters and found places confusing. Sometimes, your hands cannot type as fast as what the mind is implicating. But I promise it is now mostly gone.**

* * *

It was October 8th, two days before Naruto would turn eight years old. Hiruzen sighed behind his desk, stamping the last of the pile of papers.

'There's nothing much to do,' thought Hiruzen. 'I better just spend my time walking around the village before my secretary brings in more papers.'

Hiruzen walked out the door and out the Hokage tower. Many issues leaped into his mind, but he could only concentrate on so much. Shaking his head, he walked until he reached Konoha's Memorial Stone. Staring at the rock, he wondered if Minato and Kushina could ever forgive him unless Naruto was found.

Standing on the other side of the Memorial Stone was Hatake Kakashi – whom the Hokage had just noticed.

'So that's where he is. He's already an hour late for his appointment at my tower,' thought Hiruzen.

"Lost on the road of life Kakashi?" asked the third Hokage.

"No, I was helping a cat who was being chased by a dog," answered Kakashi who now looked up to see it was the Hokage standing in front of him. 'Oh…crap.'

"Kakashi, why don't I just give you the mission details here. Then you won't have to waste another two hours to get to my office," said Sarutobi.

"Sure Hokage-sama," answered Kakashi.

"Around six months ago, our jinchuuriki vanished. Not a trace of him was to be found," said Hiruzen who gestured Kakashi to not interrupt him. "It is two days before his eighth birthday and I believe he may appear somewhere in the village soon. But I want you, Kakashi, to search the village to locate him for me. Do not confront him though. Just trail him. This is an S-rank secret and no questions are to be asked. Understood?"

"Yes Hokage-sama," said Kakashi who sighed and scratched his head. 'Uzumaki Naruto. Looks like Minato's legacy is missing. This better not be some prank of his.'

And with that being said, Hiruzen left the Memorial stone and shunshined back to his office, leaving Kakashi to dwell on the failures of his past.

* * *

Two hours later, Kakashi could be found just leaving the Memorial stone to begin his mission. 'If I was the village prankster, where would I hide?' thought Kakashi. 'What a troublesome mission. I should be receiving a B-rank pay, not C-rank.

On his way to the Konoha market, Kakashi stumbled upon an old abandoned clan estate. 'Ah, the Namikaze Clan. I suppose I do hold some responsibility that Naruto has been missing. I should've visited him when he was younger. Know to think about it, Minato would kill me if his son was never to be found.'

Kakashi walked up to the door, remembering the times when he could walk in freely with his sensei. Now, it was impossible as Minato had sealed up the building so no one could enter but his legacy. Kakashi was prepared to walk away when he noticed a taint of blood by the seal. It may have been there for years, dried up and frozen in its place. But Kakashi knew better that Minato would not have smeared blood over the door, no matter how small the stain was.

'Could it be?' thought Kakashi. There was no way he could find out. But he did not want to shout Naruto's name, least he makes a fool of himself if no one answers the door. So Kakashi continued to wander about, keeping a mental note to himself to mention this to the Hokage about his theory later on in the day.

Kakashi starred up at the sky, allowing the shadows from the sun to consume him. Darkness swelled in his heart as he thought what may have happened to his sensei's son. There was no end to the calamity in his heart.

Kakashi shunshined to the Hokage tower and was eager to report to the Hokage about his findings.

Kakashi knocked on the door twice before a voice from the inside permitted him to enter. Upon entering, Kakashi noticed an additional picture of Naruto was placed on the Hokage's desk but it was quickly turned upside-down by the Hokage himself.

"Report," said the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, I believe Naruto may have stumbled upon an old abandoned clan estate – one that belonged to the Namikaze," Kakashi professionally replied.

"The Namikaze Clan Estate!" exclaimed Hiruzen. "Of course! I should have known. No wonder I was unable to spy Naruto at times using the crystal ball. We must go check it out at once."

"We need the blood of a Namikaze, but all Namikazes have died out," stated Kakashi without ever blinking so much.

"I have the blood sample of our fourth Hokage. It was left behind in case of an emergency," said Hiruzen. "Let's go immediately as soon as I find that sample."

"Yes Hokage-sama," answered Kakashi who was patiently waiting in front his desk.

'Now where did I put that blood sample?' thought Hiruzen while scratching his head.

Thirty minutes later, Hiruzen finally located the scroll that contained the blood of a Namikaze. Kakashi, meanwhile, was patiently dozing off while standing.

"Kakashi, we can leave now," said Hiruzen. He awaited Kakashi's reply, but none came. "KAKASHI!"

Kakashi awoke startled. "Yes Hokage-sama?"

"I have the blood sample. We can leave now," repeated the Hokage.

Kakashi simply nodded and the two shunshined out of the office towards a place long and forgotten by many.

The two arrived at the door of the ancient Namikaze Clan Estate. Taking the blood sample out from a scroll, Hiruzen smeared it onto the seal. Kakashi watched in fascination as the seal absorbed the blood before making a crackling sound that indicated the door was then free to open.

Hiruzen and Kakashi walked inside the estate. At a swift glance, no one had used the place in years. Leaves were scattered everywhere; dust on the benches. But as both Hiruzen and Kakashi inspected the place with at a deeper level, they could make out the shape of footprints on the leaves that lay on the ground.

Walking towards the main building, Hiruzen drew more blood from the scroll and smeared it onto another seal. Once again, the seal began to absorb the blood before allowing the tiniest crack to indicate the seal was temporary unlocked.

Inside the main building, there was clear evidence that the place was recently used. The person who had used it clearly did not bother to clean the place up. Contrary to that, the person had added to the mess with bowls of instant ramen lying here and there around the floor.

'It's been a while since I've visited this place,' thought Hiruzen while stroking his beard.

"Naruto. Are you here Naruto?" asked Kakashi as he shouted so that his voice would reach around the house.

No response. Silence. If a spider was spinning its web, Kakashi swore he would hear it, but no response came from Naruto.

The two silently communicated by looking into each other's eye. Kakashi instantly knew the next place to look for was the library – the grand library of the Namikaze, the treasure grove that many other clans had dreamed of digging their hands into.

Hiruzen led the way as he knew the place from the back of his head. But as they entered the door to the library, they found that many scrolls were gone – at least half of them.

'Looks like Naruto indirectly inherited his heritage,' thought Hiruzen who was also now swearing at himself silently for not to have figure this out earlier.

Kakashi, on the other hand, was thinking at a completely different level. 'Naruto, where are you and what are you doing with the scrolls? How strong are you now? How long have you been training in secret?' Kakashi wanted to say all these things out loud, but did not want to ruin the solemn atmosphere.

"So Naruto should be somewhere in the estate. Kakashi, you do search the north and the west houses. I'll take the main building, the south, and the east houses. We'll meet in half an hour. Do not miss a spot and uses shadow doppelgangers to assist you," declared the third Hokage with an instantaneous sound of authority in his voice.

"Yes Hokage-sama," said Kakashi and left without a pause.

'Naruto better not be hiding around the estate because he saw Kakashi and I,' thought Hiruzen. 'That brat is harder to find than a time with no paperwork.'

* * *

Thirty minutes later, the two might ninjas met together in the center of the estate.

"Any sign of Naruto?" asked Hiruzen with hopes glimmering in his eyes.

"No Hokage-sama," replied Kakashi who stared into the Hokage's eyes and knew Naruto had not been found.

Kakashi and Hiruzen both looked up at the sky, wondering if it will help to ask kami where Naruto was. They were disheartened and had the same thoughts: 'Naruto, where are you?'

* * *

**And that is the end of Chapter 4. **

**Where is Naruto? **

**I know it's a short chapter this time, but I felt that some chapters should be shorter than others and I couldn't have ended this one better (in my opinion).**


	5. Chapter 5: The return

**Ok, I know I labeled this story as romance, but nothing really "romantic" came out of it yet. I just wrote the beginning to set the stage for the plot, but I promise I'll get to the "crushes", the "love", and the "dating" later on in the next chapter.**

* * *

Two days later somewhere in the Whirlpool country, a young boy laid down on the ground, sweating and panting from the training exercise.

"Well that's the end of morning practice I guess. October tenth? My birthday I suppose. But seeing how I never got any gifts except from two others, I guess I'll just have to give a special gift to Konoha as a reminder to what exceptional day it is," said the boy with evil smile but felt very lonely on the inside, wishing a companion would suddenly appear beside him to comfort him.

Naruto packed up his things and got prepared to leave. The last six months he endured was a life-changing experience for him. These six months have impacted Naruto more than any other segment in his life. Naruto loved and cherished his temporary home in the country, but he knew it was time to leave. He knew that he had to return to Konoha as people who really cared – no matter how small that number is – will be worried about him. Never had he thought he would actually be staying here for half a year. At most he had planned to stay was for a week. But the unexpected week grew.

As Naruto finished packing, he walked to a specific place, closed his eyes, and disappeared in a flash. When he opened his eyes, Naruto found himself back at the Namikaze Estate.

The first thing Naruto thought of as he steadied himself was to observe his surroundings and the Hokage. How would the old man react to his six-month disappearance?

But before anything else could happen, he must announce his arrival to the residents of Konoha. He thought about painting the Hokage Momentum, but it would be really boring and someone might catch him doing so. Naruto continued to ponder while walking towards the big doors that would lead him out to the rest of the world. Then, an idea struck Naruto.

* * *

Kyoti Uchiha, age eight, was eating ice-cream her step-mother had bought her after morning training. Mikoto Uchiha, step-mother of Kyoti Uchiha and mother of Sasuke, was standing in front of the counter by the sweat shop, buying a sealed pack of ice-cream for her son who was still training in the clan compound.

"Mother," cried Kyoti who was nudging her mother's arm.

"Yes my dear?" asked Kyoti's mother without turning around.

"Look, look!" exclaimed Kyoti who was now jumping up and down trying to get her mother's full attention.

"Look at what?" asked Kyoti's mother who was still looking at the ice-cream selections.

"The Hokage momentum," cried Kyoti. "Someone had added a fifth head!"

"WHAT?" shouted Mikoto Uchiha who now gave her full attention to her step-daughter. She looked up into the distance and sure enough, another head had been attached to the momentum. It was a face of a young boy, but one that she knew all too well.

Forgetting about the ice-cream, Mikoto took her daughter's hand and led her outside. Already people in the streets have seen the momentum and are in an uproar, demanding that the little young boy is to be captured, whipped, and thrown out of Konoha.

Meanwhile at the Hokage tower, Hiruzen could only watch from his window at the people on the streets. 'Well, at least Minato can forgive me now. I hope those people down there can do the same thing.'

Hiruzen snapped his fingers to let out a spark of chakra and four ANBU materialized with a shunshin. "I need you to grab 50 other ANBU to calm the civilians and four more to catch the culprit. Once the person if found, I want him brought to my office without being harmed," said Hiruzen with a bit of emphasis.

And with another snap of his fingers, the ANBU disappeared with a shunshin.

Back at the busy streets of Konoha where people were still rioting about a young boy, Mikoto noticed her step-daughter went missing. Her hand had slipped from the pushing and shoving the crowd had created.

Kyoti was separated from her mother and Mikoto was nowhere in sight. There was a lot of confusion and she had been pushed to the edge where it was less crowded. While happy to be out of the massive crowd, she put on a frown seeing her mother was still inside. She wanted the shouts and complains to end, so putting on a brave face, she march up the mountain.

As Kyoti got close to the "fifth face", she saw the whiskers on the cheeks. 'This guy isn't really bad looking. Now to come and think of it from a closer perspective, his appearance resembles very much like the Fourth Hokage.'

Kyoti bent down and picked up a rock and juggled it, wondering how another face could be carved out from the rock in the means of just one morning and without anyone noticing. The mystery was soon solved when Kyoti threw that rock at the "fifth face" and it disappeared with a huge cloud of smoke.

"Oh c'mon," cried a young voice behind Kyoti. "You ruined all the fun. I spent a ton of chakra making that."

Kyoti turned around and saw a boy around her age with the same face as the one she saw earlier. "So it was YOU who made that!"

Instead of being angry like the rest of the village, Kyoti was rather impressed that this young boy – who had yet to enter the academy – had enough chakra to produce a jutsu at this calibre.

"How did you do that?" asked the girl, who had a face full of curiosity and walked closer to the boy.

"Oh, I just made a clone with a henge," answered Naruto who was now getting nervous as he never been this close to an person of the opposite sex.

"Really? It's that's simple?" asked the girl. "Wow, you must be pretty strong. What's your name?"

"Oh, umm…mynameisnaruto," answered Naruto with a haste foreign to himself. Naruto never had a girl who took initiative come up to him and ask him questions – least he expected a girl around his age. The encounter with the girl at the flower shop years ago was another story. That time, Naruto was acting for another person. In a way, Naruto was never at the flower shop, he was just replacing Hayate-sensei's body. Naruto was burdened with a hole that had no friends among those in his age-group. He sometimes felt he was in the hole with no one to help him – no one to pull him out.

"Pardon me?" asked the girl, putting on an innocent smile while breaking Naruto's train of thought. "I didn't quite catch the last line."

Naruto, blushing hard while scratching the back of his head, attempted to calm down and put on a mask, but he failed to find one.

"My name is Na-ru-to," Naruto answered slowly, emphasizing every syllable in his name, who was now panting silently from being nervous. Because of that nervousness, Naruto instinctively let out waves of chakra, leading him to have near chakra exhaustion.

"Hello Naruto. My name is Kyoti, nice to meet you," replied Kyoti who still had her sincere smile. "Are you entering the academy?"

"I just turned eight today, so I'm going to jij to apply for it," answered Naruto who was now calmer and relaxed.

'This guy calls Hokage-sama jiji?' Kyoti thought while elevating her eyes towards the sky. 'He must have a close relationship with the Hokage I suppose; funny how I've never heard his name before.'

Kyoti was about to invite Naruto over to her house when a swirl of leaves appeared and in its place were four ANBU and her mother.

Mikoto ran up to Kyoti and embraced her into her arms. "I thought I was going to lose you again like I lost Itachi and everyone else," Mikoto exclaimed with tears flowing down her cheeks.

"It's okay. I'm fine. I just got pushed out of the crowd so I really wanted to look for you. But I was never able to find you in the crowd. So I tried to find a way to get rid of the image on the cliff. I ran up the mountain, got rid of it, and found that boy named Naruto," Kyoti told her mother while pointing at the place where Naruto was standing. But Naruto was gone.

"Naruto?" asked Mikoto who was coming back to reality. "You mean the boy whose face appeared on the mountain earlier?"

"Yes, that's him," replied Kyoti.

Mikoto watched her daughter with a horrified expression. "Kyoti, I want you to never, ever go near that kid ever again. Don't go near him. Don't interact with him. Don't even look at him. Now I want you to repeat what I said," Mikoto said all the while staring into the eyes of her daughter.

"But why mother? He seems alright to me," Kyoti said, defending her judgment of Naruto.

"Kyoti, he caused a racket in Konoha in half a day. What innocent, sweet kid would do something like that," said Mikoto who was determined to change Kyoti's opinion. "Don't you believe in your mother?"

"I guess so," replied Kyoti, but was still unsure about the truth that Naruto was a bad kid.

Naruto, on the other hand, was captured by ANBU and was brought back to Hiruzen's office.

"Hello jiji, long time no see!" exclaimed Naruto who had a smile that stretched from cheek to cheek.

"NARUTO! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" asked the third Hokage who raised his voice to a point where Naruto had to cover his ears.

When the Hokage had finished his rant, Naruto began to explain. "I was walking home one day when I saw a lost dog. I wanted to go up to it and pet the dog, but it ran away. So I chased it and got lost," Naruto explained sheepishly.

The third Hokage sweat-dropped and face-palmed upon hearing this. "Naruto, there's a time and place for pranks and jokes – now is not the time," Hiruzen explained. 'I'm really too old for this job.'

"Ok, I'll go clean. I went to train since no one would train me in Konoha," replied Naruto with a more sincere face.

"But where did you go?" asked Hiruzen.

Naruto wanted to avoid the question, so he sought to change the topic. "Why didn't you tell me my father was the fourth Hokage and my mother was once part of the Uzumaki Clan in the Whirlpool country?" Naruto asked, hoping to place some guilt on the Hokage's shoulders.

Hiruzen, hearing those words, starred down at the ground. A moment of silence echoed through the room.

"Naruto, it was kept from you to protect you. While I really wanted to tell you who your parents were, I could not do so without endangering you in the process," explained Hiruzen. "Naruto, can you forgive me?"

Naruto stared at the ceiling. This question had been repeatedly asked in his mind. He wandered into the deep abyssal of his mind, searching for an answer. Naruto had many sleepless nights attempting to solve this mystery in his mind.

"Yes, I can," said Naruto with a sigh. "There's no point holding grudges against one of the few people who are precious in my life. I only ask that you do not speak of this to anyone else and that you grant me permission to enter the Namikaze Clan Estate whenever I please so I do not need to sneak in. Also, I would like to keep my surname as Uzumaki for now. I will declare to Konoha about my heritage when I feel ready."

"Is that all? I can easily grant you those requests plus some others if you wish," said Hiruzen, but instantly regretted his words.

"I would like to enter the academy since I am finally eight years old and I would like to have a ramen every day at Ichiraku's Ramen free of charge," said a cheerful Naruto.

"Naruto, you're a growing boy. Fruits and vegetables are the way to go. Eating ramen every day will stunt your growth and you will never be as tall as me," explained Hiruzen.

Naruto already knew the Hokage's answer beforehand, but he wanted to test his luck. Unfortunately, the Hokage got better of him.

"Ok jiji, I'll take my leave then and I'll start at the academy tomorrow. Bye!" exclaimed Naruto.

But Hiruzen was not satisfied for Naruto had yet to answered his original question. "HOLD ON RIGHT THERE NARUTO. You still have not yet answered my question from the beginning. Where have you been during the past six months? As the Hokage, I have the right to question where my ninjas or future ninjas have gone off to."

Naruto turned around and looked Hiruzen. "Every person, whether civilian or ninja, has a right to his or her own privacy."

"Naruto, you don't have to give me a whole account of what happened. You may leave out small details. I just want a general story of what happened and how you got past my ANBU when you left Konoha," said the almighty third Hokage.

Naruto looked at the Hokage in the eye and remembered he could be trusted as he was one of the people he would protect with his life. So he walked back to the desk and pulled a chair to sit down. "Well, I might as well get comfortable as this story will be a lengthy one."

(Flashback)

Naruto finally completed making is katana heavier with the gravity seals. Naruto, bored from the entity of boredom, took a book from his seals randomly to read.

But why read when there are ten other things he could have done? That was because he had no friends or companions that were his own age group- so he could only kill time by reading. During the younger half of his life, parents and guardians had warned those in his generation to stay away from him whenever he got close. All Naruto wanted to do was to make friends and play. But no child ever became Naruto's friend. Naruto remembered how other kids would have parents to push them on the swings, but he – himself – had none.

Coming back to reality, Naruto gazed into the book, or rather a diary. The title was, "The Uzumaki and Namikze Clan", by Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze. Naruto attempted to open the book, but it would not budge.

Naruto, who had many unfortunate things happening all at once recently, could not bear to take another one, even if it is only a book. Taking his sharp katana and throwing the book in mid-air, Naruto executed a clean swing at it, releasing a wave of anger and distress.

As Naruto's blade connected with the book, the blade simply knocked the book towards the wall instead of cutting straight through.

When Naruto retrieved the book, he found that not a single scratch was embarked on it nor were there any signs of damage to be seen. Naruto then released a wave of chakra out of anger while holding the book. Still physically connected to the book, the dairy lit up, reavealing patterns indicating it was a sealed book.

Naruto stared deeply into the complexity of the seals. He could not make out what it meant entirely, but he recognized one of the symbols were very similar to the one in front of the abandoned Clan Estate – the requirement of blood.

So Naruto drew blood from his hand and smeared it onto the front cover.

Naruto waited.

And waited.

Nothing happened after minutes of waiting. And after a while, Naruto let out another wave of chakra. This time, with the chakra, the blood smeared on the cover began to sink into the book. There was a blinding flash of light and like a key, the blood opened the book.

And so, Naruto began reading.

"Dear whoever is reading this. If you are able to open the book by using both blood and chakra, then you are a son of the Namikaze and Uzumaki. The two clans were once apart, only to be joined by the binding of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki."

"Kushina Uzumaki was happy to marry me. She had a unique appearance and personality no other woman bore. Like gold in my eyes, she glittered brighter than the morning sun each day. And her voice – the songs she sings. I swear if I put her in the middle of the third Shinobi war, everyone would lay down their weapons to hear her sing."

"But her time in Konoha was a long one and she missed her hometown. I, having responsibilities beyond many others, could not have possibly left the village to accompany her."

"I had many enemies and many of them would hold Kushina up for ransom if she was ever to be caught on her way back to the Whirlpool Country."

"So I modified my Hiraishin. In the back of the Namikaze Estate, the fifth tree from the last house, lays a rock. Turning the rock three times, an underground tunnel will appear."

"Inside the tunnel lays a seal on the ground. With the blood of a Namikaze and the chakra inherited from an Uzumaki, the seal will activate and teleport the user(s) to a hidden location near a small town deep in the Whirlpool Country."

"I write this as Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash, the Yondaime Hokage."

Naruto closed the diary as he finished part one. He skimmed through the rest, but most of it did not seem important so he just left it as it is.

'Only the blood of a Namikaze and the chakra inherited from an Uzumaki could ever open this book,' thought Naruto. 'Could it be? Could it really be that I am son of Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage?'

The more Naruto mused over the information he had just read, the more he wanted to visit the abandoned Clan Estate, or rather the Namikaze Clan Estate and see if it belonged to him.

Naruto produced a shunshin without leaving a shadow clone behind, materializing in front of the Clan Estate this time rather than a back corner in an alleyway.

Drawing blood from his hands, Naruto smeared it onto the seal and stepped inside. He marched to the fifth tree from the last house near the back and there was indeed a rock placed on the ground.

Naruto attempted to turn the rock, but it would not budge. So he drew blood and chakra again and this time, it did the job. The floor – the grass – slid open and stairs were visible. Naruto climbed down to the dark pits.

As Naruto stepped down the stairs, candle lights flickered alive as if they knew Naruto's presence was with them. When finally Naruto got to the bottom, the whole chamber lit up. Naruto now saw the complexity of the seals written on the ground.

'I wonder if it's safe to use it,' thought Naruto. 'If I'm truly the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, then this seal will work for me as I will have inherited their blood and chakra.'

With that being said, Naruto left the room to go pack. Producing a hundred clones, he packed really fast – even for an eight year kid.

Two hours and Naruto was in the chamber again. This time, he was loaded with food – mostly instant ramen – and scrolls. All was placed inside scrolls that were placed inside more scrolls until there was one big scroll that hung on Naruto's back.

Drawing blood from his right hand, Naruto placed it at the center before emitting a steady flow of chakra. Instantly, Naruto felt weightless, as if all the gravity in the world has been sucked away. And in a flash, Naruto was gone.

* * *

**This is my fifth chapter and some advice to how to improve the story would be appreciated, not the same old, "good-job" "I can't wait for the next chapter", because it's redundant - not that I don't mind. Instead, telling me why it's good or how I can make it better along with some suggestions would bring a more positive impact to how I can write with a variety of ideas. So please leave it in a either a PM or review – either one is fine.**


	6. Chapter 6: A story

**I guess I was a bit late on this update**

* * *

(flashback continued)

Somewhere in the Whirlpool Country, a boy appeared from nowhere and found himself standing in the middle of a lake. 'Oh crap, how the hell am I going to get home.'

But then Naruto realized he wasn't putting any chakra onto his feet and he was still standing on water. Reaching down, Naruto realized someone – probably Minato – had put a powerful genjutsu here.

Walking to shore, Naruto inspected his surroundings. He was in a barren land stripped of its glory many years ago.

'If my father is Minato Namikaze and my mother is Kushina Uzumaki, the Uzumaki Clan Estate must be close by,' thought Naruto as he scanned around the area. But not a single source of life besides Naruto was to be seen.

As Naruto continued to walk, pondering at unknown thoughts, he reached the edge of a cliff. Naruto stopped abruptly to see a village at the bottom or rather, the remains of a village.

Naruto walked into the village and wandered about until he came to the ruins of a clan compound. Dust settled on the gates, untouched for years. Naruto pushed the door open and it fell flat to the ground with a loud noise.

Entering, Naruto coughed as dust filled his airway. He went to see what was left, but found nothing. Everything had either been looted or burned. Nothing – not even pictures – was to be found.

Burnt bookcases were visible and random pages could be seen on the ground. Naruto picked a page up, but the words were too difficult to see.

Naruto, only seeing vague image of the library, decided to go deeper. Naruto walked until he saw something that caught his attention. A wall with clear markings of seals was inscribed onto the wall. There was also evidence that someone had tried to open or break into it, but the seals did their job and prevented the intruders finding the secret within.

Naruto, already getting used to the routine, bit his finger and drew blood before smearing it onto the seal. Placing his right hand onto the center of the seal, he released a pulse of chakra. The seal glowed. Naruto expected the wall to move aside or some other secret passage to appear. But none of those occurred. Instead, a man appeared; a person with markings all over his body. Naruto starred at it with wonder. A closer glimpse at the seals and Naruto could make out that they were seals. But the seals were so complex, Naruto did not have a clue what they meant or the purpose of the seals.

Finally, when dust settled down, the man spoke. "Ah, who as awoken me from my dreams? Is the war finally over?"

"There is no war," replied Naruto who was starring up at the man.

The man thought deeply, thinking of the possibilities of what could have happened during his slumber. "You must be an Uzumaki for only the blood of an Uzumaki could have revived me."

"Wait, so you are an Uzumaki too?" asked Naruto who was now shocked to see that one of the people in his clan was still alive.

"Yes, but I am dead already. I am just a clone, enforced with seals and a life-force that would last around six months. I can sense that you are the last of the Uzumaki line," said the man. "Ah, the Uzumaki's great library burnt to the ground. No matter. I have most of the books burned in my head. Stay here boy. I will train you until the seals no longer last."

"But I wasn't preparing to stay for six months," said Naruto who now began to have a worried look.

"Stay for this half a year and I will make you grow into a completely different person. I will make you strong. If you go back, then you will be wasting precious time. I will make you a master of seals and train you to be a ninja to fear."

Naruto starred at the man, wondering whether or not to take his offer. In the end, Naruto decided to take it since no one had shown him that much care and attention in a long time.

"I'll stay."

"Good."

Six months had gone by and the man came up to Naruto. "Naruto my boy, you have learned faster and a lot more than I imagined you would for a seven year old. Well, I guess you're almost eight. My life-force is dwindling and I only have a few hours left at most. I want to use my last few hours to enjoy the ocean's view. Here we must depart. Naruto, you will be a legend one day. Take the scrolls I wrote for you and learn them. They shouldn't be that hard now for one that is at your level. Good-bye."

Naruto ran up to the man, tears streaming down his eyes, and embraced him. "Thank you. Good-bye now. I'll never forget you or these past six months."

Naruto let go and watched the man walk towards the sea. Even then, Naruto could begin to see that his body was fading away, being less and less opaque by the second.

(Flashback end)

"And that's my story jij," exclaimed Naruto.

Hiruzen twitched his eyes. "You skipped half a year of stuff."

"Jiji, if I told you half a year of things that happened, we could be in this office for half a year," reasoned Naruto.

Hiruzen face-palmed but respected Naruto's privacy, so he let it go – for now.

Kyoti was at the Uchiha Clan Compound that afternoon.

"Mother, why do you despise Naruto? I have never seen him myself, but he must have done something really bad for you to hate him that much," Kyoti asked her mother while staring at her mother's gentle eyes.

"Kyoti, if you know what's best for you, don't ask any more questions. Knowledge is dangerous sometimes," replied her mother.

"Mother, some information is dangerous. But in the academy, we also learned that we should look underneath the underneath. I just want to know why," said Kyoti.

"Kyoti, it has been a long day. Go help prepare dinner and review your studies."

"Okay mom. I'll be in my room. I'm really tired from today so I'll just take a nap," said Kyoti, pretending not to care.

'Uzumaki Naruto, son of Kushina and if I were to guess correctly, he's also the Yondaime's son,' thought Mikoto with a sigh. 'Why did Minato break my heart for that red-hair rat? Uzumaki Kushina, you stole Minato's heart and took it away even as you died. If it wasn't for Fugaku Uchiha who came and opened my heart, I think I would have just died.'

'I'm dwelling on this too much,' thought Mikoto. 'Well, time to call Sasuke in and prepare for dinner soon.'

Kyoti went to her room and set her bed up as if a person was under the covers before locking the doors and opening the window. Taking one more glance at the door, she leaped out the window and snuck out of the Clan house.

Even though Kyoti was young, she was not stupid. She knew her way around Konoha. She knew people around her; the people of Konoha knew her. She walked past the civilians, each one giving her a respectful nod, acknowledging her for her heritage.

'Every one of them. They look at me with respectful nods just because I am one of the few remaining Uchihas. If I were born in a different clan or just a regular citizen, no one would give me so more than a glance,' thought Kyoti. 'If I had to choose, I would rather be one among the crowd until I earn my name the hard way. I don't want to be recognized for doing nothing. I want to be acknowledged for my achievements.'

Meanwhile, several civilians were shopping when they saw young Kyoti. 'Wow. A child of the Uchiha Clan. But what is she doing out here without her parents. Well, I guess Itachi was younger than her.'

Kyoti continued walking until she reached the Hokage tower. Sometimes, she enjoyed having the surname Uchiha.

"Excuse me young lady, but where's your parents and what are you doing here at the Hokage Tower?" asked the Hokage's secretary.

"My name is Kyoti Uchiha and I request an audience with the Hokage because something of importance needs to be discussed in private."

"…"

Ignoring the Secretary as she was lost for words, Kyoti knocked on the door before opening a tiny crack – small enough to fit her head inside.

"Hello Hokage-sama. Am I disrupting something important," asked Kyoti politely. She had seen the Hokage in person several times. But it was mostly after her Clan was exterminated.

"No, Kyoti-chan. Naruto and I have just finished talking," replied Hiruzen.

"Oh hi Naruto-kun," Kyoti said, smiling at Naruto.

Naruto blushed. "Hi Kyoti-c…chan."

Hiruzen watched the young children with an amused face. 'That's weird, Naruto made a friend? This may be an interesting development.'

"It seems you two know each other already, so I can skip the introductions," said Hiruzen. "So Kyoti, what was it that you want? And does your mother know you're here," asked Hiruzen as he could not sense Mikoto's chakra signature.

"No, my mother doesn't know I snuck out. I'm supposed to be taking a nap," admitted Kyoti. "But there are some questions my mother would not answer and I couldn't think of anyone else to ask but you, Hokage-sama."

At hearing the word "questions", Hiruzen fretted slightly.

"What do you want ask about?" asked Hiruzen, pretending to be calm.

"Why did my mother act so contemptuous towards Naruto?" asked Kyoti who was still frowning a bit.

Naruto listened to the question. Deep down, he knew the answer – or so he thought he did.

"Your mother dislikes Naruto because…" Hiruzen said

"It's because I contain the Kyuubi," said Naruto who cut Hiruzen off before he could finish.

"The Kyuubi?" asked Kyoti with a slight frown. "Didn't the Kyuubi die eight years ago?"

"The Kyuubi is a massive ball of chakra filled with hatred. No one," said Hiruzen with a sigh, "not even the Yondaime could defeat him. So he sealed it into a new-born baby."

Kyoti starred at Hiruzen with an open eye, digesting the information in her head piece by piece.

"But why of all people Naruto?" asked Kyoti. "How could the Yondaime take an innocent baby and seal the Kyuubi instead him?"

"Even though the Yondaime was very powerful," said Hiruzen, "he couldn't ask any other parent to give up their child for him."

"Wait. You just said that the Yondaime couldn't ask any other parent to give their child. Then…" Kyoti, lost in words, could not finish her sentence.

"My father, I believe, is the Yondaime," declared Naruto. "There is no other possibility."

"Yes," said Hiruzen in realization that Naruto perhaps knew everything. "Kyoti-chan, I repeat again: words in the room must not be breathed elsewhere."

"Yes Hokage-sama," said Kyoti.

"Do you hate me now?" asked Naruto. The words came out suddenly; each word was a rock in Naruto's throat.

Kyoti, hearing the words, only looked up at Naruto in surprise. She was surprised that Naruto would even bother to ask such a question.

"Naruto, I don't hate you. You're not the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi I was told would set the village in chaos and terror," said Kyoti while taking a pause, looking for her choice of words. "Well, I guess in a way you did put the villagers in panic, but I'm pretty sure that the Kyuubi would not do it with humour."

"Really?" asked Naruto. He wasn't expecting such a delicate answer. He expected the words, "Yes, I do hate you," or "Yes, I never want to see you again." Naruto looked up at Kyoti. He starred into her eyes, determined to find lies in her words. But none could be found. Only truth came about.

Naruto wanted to say thank-you, but once again, words were lost in his mouth. Only a few in Naruto's life had shown Naruto such kindness. To add another was all too much for Naruto to bear alone. Seeing how the conversation had ended and the room had its eyes on him, he stood up. Eyes followed Naruto as he walked about.

"Naruto…" Kyoti spoke, but stopped herself halfway.

And without a word, Naruto shunshined off into the distance, pretending not to give a care to anyone.

Hiruzen watched the young boy disappear with another sigh. Perhaps he was sighing too much for this job. He really needed a replacement.

Meanwhile, Kyoti just starred at the space where Naruto had just been. "He's eight and he can do the shunshin already?"

"Yes, and unfortunately, I'd rather he learn any other jutsu than that because he's using it in almost every situation," said Hiruzen.

The next morning, Naruto awoke from his bed just as any other morning. But this one was different. There was part of him that was excited for the new day; yet there was another side that was scared of what it would be like around a group of peers he never met in his life. What will be their responses when they see him? Will they laugh and scorn him or will they accept him for who he is and not what he has.

But Naruto wanted to give everyone a good impression and certainly the clothes he was going to wear was going to bring an impact of those who viewed him.

Going to his scrolls, he unsealed one of the packs of clothes he got from the whirlpool country. It was black with white flames along the trims. Naruto wanted to look cool as well, so he took his katana with him and strapped it onto his back. Naruto glanced at his clock before leaving the house. 'Oh crap, it's 9:30 already'.

Without another second being wasted, Naruto shunshined towards Konoha's Ninja Arts Academy.

* * *

**What a hard chapter. The Naruto World Map was so small that I could hardly read the words.**

**Oh, I forgot to mention in this story, three Uchihas survive. They are Sasuke, Mikoto (mother of sasuke), and Kyoti (step-sister of Sasuke and step-daughter of Mikoto; I made this character up myself if you hadn't already picked that up).**

**There will be future flashbacks for what happened in the whirlpool country.**

**Sigh, proofreading is a PAIN.**


	7. Chapter 7: The academy days

**It's been a while I guess, I was working on my other story I started on (a crossover)**

* * *

Naruto made his way to his designated classroom after signing in at the office. His new teacher – sensei – to be was Iruka. Naruto rushed inside without knocking at the door to see thirty heads staring at him.

There was an awkward moment of silence that bypassed the room until Iruka decided to break it. "Well fellow students, today we have a new student by the name of Naruto Uzumaki I presume." Iruka turned his head to Naruto to confirm.

Naruto nodded. "Hi everyone, my name's Naruto. Nice to meet you all."

"Now about attendance," Iruka began. "Class starts at nine o'clock and I expect NO ONE to be late. Today is your first day, so I'll let it go, but if it happens again in the future, it'll be thirty laps around the school."

'Thirty laps only?' thought Naruto. 'I might as well be late everyday.'

"Please find yourself a seat in the classroom," said Iruka.

Naruto looked around and saw Kyoti, but she was already sitting with someone, presumably her brother. He looked around and saw only one seat open which was beside a white-eye girl. 'A member of the Hyuuga Clan. This might be fun.' Naruto took a seat beside the girl.

"Hey, what's your name?" ask Naruto, staring at the ceiling.

"H…Hinata," stuttered Hinata, turning her head towards Naruto before quickly turning back in a blush.

After listening to Iruka for five minutes, Naruto turned to Hinata out of boredom. "Is class always like this?"

"Like what?" asked a confused Hinata.

"Like is class always this boring?" rephrased Naruto, rolling his eyes to the ceiling again.

"Err…" replied Hinata. "I guess so. But we really shouldn't be talking."

"Why not?" asked Naruto. "It's not like Iruka-sensei has eyes on his back."

"NARUTO!" shouted Iruka. "Do you wish to share with the class about your little conversation."

"Actually, I think he does have eyes on his back," Hinata softly whispered with her gaze averted to the front of the room."

"Yes we do," Naruto answered Iruka. "We were discussing how wonderful your story was."

"Is that so?" Iruka spoke with a slight hesitation before shouting back at Naruto. "It's not a STORY. It's HISTORY.

"Oh woops," Naruto scratched his head. "Please continue. I won't interrupt you again."

True enough, Naruto didn't interfere with Iruka's lesson. It turned out that Naruto fell asleep halfway through.

The bell rang for lunch and woke up a startled Naruto who found Iruka glaring at him.

'Oh crap,' thought Naruto. "Iruka-sensei, look! There's someone's at the door."

Iruka turned knowing that Naruto was fooling him, but there was no way Naruto could escape since there was only one door in the classroom, so Iruka played his game. When he turned back, Naruto was gone. 'What the hell?' Then, Iruka looked to the side and found the window open. 'Sigh.'

Naruto walked around the courtyard, looking at the activities the children were playing with. Some were playing shogi, others were sparring. Naruto walked towards the kids that were sparring. They stood in a circle with two people inside.

As Naruto watched the fight foldout, he realized Kyoti was standing beside him.

"Hey Kyoti," whispered Naruto. "Do these spars happen every lunch break?"

"Yes," answered Kyoti. "It's usually entertaining to watch."

"Hey look!" cried one of the kids. "It's that new kid. Naruto right? Want to have a little spar?"

"Haha," laughed Naruto uneasily. "I'm not so sure. I mean, I just got here today. I don't know much jutsus."

"Jutsus?" the kid laughed. "None of us knows any jutsus in particular anyways. We just spar using taijutsu. So what do you say? Just a little spar won't hurt."

The other children began to continually pressure Naruto until Kyoti encouraged him to give it a try that he decided to go.

Naruto walked towards the center of the ring, surrounded by fellow classmates. His opponent was around the same size as him, showing no particular talent on the outside.

"And begin," muttered a voice from the circle.

"Your shoelaces are untied," Naruto pointed down at his opponent's shoes.

Naruto's opponent looked down to see himself wearing sandals. But as he realized he had just been duped, a punch connected with his face and he fell back to hit the grass with a thud.

"Wow," cried one of the kids. "A one-hit KO."

"Sorry," Naruto said to his opponent. "I might have overdid it. Are you okay?"

"I'm partially alright," replied the kid. "Although that punch really did hurt."

Naruto was about to say something, but the bell rang, marking the end of lunch break.

Iruka led his class outside for the afternoon to show them various throwing weapons. He started with the kunai, displaying its deadliness. After showing the principles of how it is used, Iruka demonstrated how to throw it. So he threw it, showing great accuracy as the kunai buried itself in the center of the target.

A majority of the students had their eyes wide opened as many of them first saw a kunai thrown. Iruka then gave his students several training kunai as trails to attempt to hit the target.

"Hey, that's dangerous," shouted a kid, pointing at Naruto who was spinning his kunai in circles with his index finger.

"Naruto, please don't play with the kunai," said Iruka. "It can get dangerous if you swing it incorrectly."

Naruto stopped spinning the kunai and walked up to the line to throw his kunai. He threw the kunai and it hit dead center of the target.

"Very good Naruto," said Iruka. "Do you have any training previously?"

"Yes," replied Naruto. "But only a bit."

They class ended as the bell rang.

"Do you wanna get some ice-cream together?" Kyoti asked Naruto.

Naruto looked at her for a moment. "Sure." And the two walked off into the distance with someone not far behind trailing them with her eyes.

FOUR YEARS LATER GRADUATION EXAM

"I thank you all for making it this far in the course," announced Iruka. "I know many of your peers had dropped out and I congratulate you all for making it through. But before you all become official ninjas of the leaf, a final graduation exam is to be taken here."

Naruto passed the exams with flying colours with the exception of the regular bunshin.

It came to a point in the exams where Naruto was paired up with Sasuke in a one-on-one fight.

"A dope like you who has no clan will never be able to top the elite," said a dark raven-like boy.

"Says the guy who has three people left," retorted Naruto.

Kyoti, who was standing behind Naruto, bonked him on the head for saying repulsive words.

"Sorry," said Naruto. "I meant four people. There's still one more isn't there?"

Hearing Naruto's words enraged Sasuke and he charged forward before Iruka announced the fight to start.

Sasuke's left arm aimed for Naruto's head, but was easily dodged. Naruto countered with a knee to Sasuke's stomach, but Sasuke took half a step back and caught the knee. Before Naruto knew it, Sasuke had landed a kick to his side and he fell to the ground.

The Naruto disappeared with a "puff".

'A shadow clone,' thought Sasuke who was very familiar with Naruto and his clones during previous encounters in the past. Acting upon pure instinct, Sasuke moved to the right to narrowly dodge a blade that hit the ground, creating a mark six-inches deep.

"NARUTO!" shouted Iruka. "NO SWORDS! AND WHEN DID YOU BRING THAT TO SCHOOL?"

"I always had it with me," said Naruto, confusing a large amount of the population. 'Yes, it was always behind my back with an invisible seal attached.'

"Well," said Iruka, thinking upon his choice of words, "no swords in this fight."

Naruto didn't answer Iruka. Instead he looked at Sasuke. "So, got any jutsus or will it be 'dodge Naruto the whole time' thing?"

"Katon: Grand Fireball Jutsu," muttered and irritated Sasuke, releasing a deadly breath of fire.

Naruto dodged it, but immediately looked at his sensei. "So he can use deadly fire jutsus and I can't swing my sword? That's not fair. It's like you're trying to side with him."

Iruka sighed, realizing how difficult the situation has become and the dilemma he was facing. But before he could respond, Naruto spoke first. "It's alright, I'll put my sword aside. We don't want the Uchiha heir to be cut into pieces do we now?"

Sasuke gritted his teeth in search of a witty response, but couldn't think of one as he knew how deadly that katana could be.

Naruto strapped his katana to his back. "I want to try this new jutsu I made up since after this battle, my career as a ninja begins. So I guess showing the world this jutsu will be the first step towards my goal."

'Made a new jutsu?' many people thought. 'Is that even possible for an academy student? Is it powerful?'

'Naruto-kun,' thought Kyoti. 'Don't tell me you've perfected that jutsu.'

* * *

**Short Chapter, big time skip. Once again, things will be told in flashbacks. Even though I love writing about Naruto's pre-ninja life, the story has to move.**

**Please read and review**


	8. Chapter 8: The fight

**It's been a while...was very busy so I didn't get much words. Next chapter will be a longer one**

* * *

'Naruto-kun,' thought Kyoti. 'Don't tell me you've perfected that jutsu.'

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu," cried Naruto. A thousand clones popped into the air. The audience behind Naruto and Sasuke gasped. Each of the clones was solid and moving as if they had a mind of their own.

'So many,' thought Sasuke. 'They're solid clones too – each and every one of them. His chakra capacity must be huge. How is this even possible?'

"Hmph," said Sasuke. "Even though you made 100 clones, they are still _your_ clones and therefore, they mean nothing. Zero multiplied by 100 is zero after all."

Naruto laughed. "Even if what you say is true, then if I add them altogether, it'll be one hundred."

The audience were confused at Naruto's words but was reluctant to say anything that may be hindering the match so they kept silent.

'There's the real Naruto,' thought Sasuke as he heard only one Naruto speak. He rushed up towards Naruto and punched him, grinning as he landed the blow on the face only to turn in utter disappointment as it was a shadow clone.

"Great," said Naruto, "now I need to make another clone to replace the one you killed."

All 'Narutos' quickly assembled the seal for a shadow clone to confuse Sasuke of the real one. Once another shadow clone was made, the 'Narutos' formed a packed circle around the original.

"It's my turn to attack now," taunted Naruto. "Fuuinjutsu: Heavenly Armour." All the clones that Naruto had previously created transformed one by one into a different piece of armour. Then, all the pieces flew at the original Naruto, engulfing him with the enhanced chakra armour.

"Fuuinjutsu: Frozen Era." In place of Naruto's previous clothing, he now had a white shirt with black and orange stripes. His pants were composed of orange and white stripes with a black covering. At his waist was a belt that would've been where he would hold his katana. On his back now hung a cape with blue flames at encircled the bottm as a trim. It was as if the new armour had blended into Naruto's previous outfit.

'What the hell,' thought Iruka. 'I've never seen such a jutsu before. Is that even possible.'

"What did you do dobe?" asked Sasuke. Jealousy coursed through Sasuke body as he began to witness a jutsu never seen in history. Nevertheless, Sasuke charged at Naruto, rendering all possibilities of what the new Naruto could do. 'If that armour is comprised of shadow clones, then all I have to do is land a hit and parts of the armour would disappear.' As Sasuke closed in, Naruto didn't dodge his punch; rather, Naruto welcomed it.

Sasuke's punch connected with Naruto's chest, sending him flying a couple feet back. Naruto, however, was still able to land on two feet after the punch. Sasuke was bewildered. Naruto looked as though he had taken little to no damage at all. Worst of all, the armour was still there. "How is your armour still intact? It's made of shadow clones so it should have already disappeared when I punched you."

Naruto laughed and spoke for the first time since his transformation. "My first jutsu, heavenly armour, created the clones into the pieces of armour. But like you mentioned earlier, it would have just disappeared if it connected with your fist. To prevent that, my second Fuuinjutsu: Frozen Era, prevented my shadow clone from disappearing. By the way, do you like the style of my new clothes? It took me quite a while to design it."

Kyoti, who was standing at the side, watched with intensity. She was hinted about the effects of the jutsu prior to the battle, but Naruto would always evade the more detailed questions. Nevertheless, she was shocked as well.

Sasuke sneered. "No matter what kind of jutsu you put onto the battlefield, you will be able to match the elite." Upon Sasuke's comment, his eyes began to change colour into a gradient of red.

"Wow, your eyes are red," said Naruto. "Is that going to make a difference?"

"It's the sharingan you idiot," shouted Sasuke, charging at Naruto with his activated sharingan. At first, it was even between the two, but it soon began to a point where Sasuke was getting in more and more hits.

"Is this all you got dobe?" taunted Sasuke. "I expected more."

"Okay, if that's what you want," said a smiling Naruto. In Naruto's right hand, visible chakra could be seen faintly. The chakra began to swirl around and around until it became a ball of compressed chakra. Sasuke looked at the jutsu from a distance with his sharingan and began to feel fear. The jutsu was unique and it brought up the smell of power.

"Kai," shouted Naruto with a one-handed seal, neglecting the gravity seals he had previously placed on himself. Now with his insane speed, Naruto rushed at Sasuke, who was unable to comprehend the situation. Within a blink of an eye, the distance between Sasuke and Naruto disappeared and Naruto was the one in front of Sasuke with the rasengan in his hand.

Sasuke, realizing it was too late to dodge, jumped back in attempt to absorb the impact, but it did little affect to neglect the attack. As the rasengan implanted itself into Sasuke stomach, Sasuke felt his body being pushed back several dozen feet and his body ripping apart.

Smoke filled the area and when it was clear, it was obvious that Naruto had won the battle. Already medic units were called up to look at Sasuke's body – to see if any permanent damage was made.

"Woops," said Naruto, "guess I overdid it." Naruto walked back to the tree to retrieve his katana and to replace his gravity seals. Just as Naruto was about to get rid of his armour, the ground beside Naruto exploded. Two ninjas, hidden in their clothes, launched themselves at Naruto. Naruto, who did not expect the attacks, tried his best attempt to dodge but failed without luck. A fist caught his head and another to his stomach. The mysterious ninjas then retreated before another wave of explosions surrounded Naruto. When the smoke cleared off, Naruto was gone – his sword and everything.

"Naruto," shouted a concerned Kyoti. But there was no response. Naruto was gone.

* * *

**Hope you all enjoyed that fight. And the two mysterious ninjas? They can be anyone - akatsuki, kumo, who knows?**

**Please read and review**


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